The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-06-29

BEooKLYS, June 26.-Many of the fam |
flies belonging 10 the church Of which the |
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, d. D., is pas
tor, have gone to the country for the |
summer, but sim the great thrOngs Of |
people that for eighteen years have been
seen in and around Brooklyn Tabernacle
on Sabbath days, are found there. 1t is
estimated that about 300 600 strangers
have visited this church during the past
year. The hymn sung this morning was:
Salvation, Oh, the joyful sound
tbs pleasure TO our ears;
a sovereign balm for every wound
cordial for our fears
DR.. Talmage's text was: 'He was a
mighty hunter before tie Lord. Gen
esis X, O. lie said:
In our day hunting IS u sport; but in
the lands and times infested with wild
beasts il was matter Of life or death
with the people. 1t was very different
from going out on a sunshiny afternoon
with patent breech loader 10 shoot reed
birds on the flats, when POllus and
Achilles and DiOmedes went out to clear
the land Of lions and tigers and bears
My text sets forth NimrOd as n hero when
il presents hira with broad shoulders and
shaggy apparel and sunbrOwned face, and
arm punched with muscle-''a mighty
hunter before the Lord - think he used
the bow and the arrow, with great success
practiciUg archery.
1 have thought If it is suo1h a grand
thing and such a brave thing to clear wild
beasts out Of a country, if il is not a better
and Drawer thing TO hunt down and de-
stroy those great evils Of society that are
stalking the land with fierce eye and
bloody paw and sharp tusk and quick
spring. / have wondered if there is not
such a thing as gospel hunting, by which
those who have been flying from the truth
may be captured for God and heaven
The Lord Jesus in his sermon used the
art Of angling for an illustration when he
said: Il will make you fishers of men"
And so ] think / have authority for using
hunting as an illustration Of gospel truth;
and pray God that there may be many
man in this congregation who shall begin
TO study gospel archery, Of whom it may
after n while be said: 'Ie was a mighty
hunter before the Lord"
How much awkward Christian work
there Is done in the world How many
good people there are who drive souls
away from Christ instead Of bringing
them to himl Religious blunderers, who
upset more than they right. Their gun
has n crooked barrel, and kicks as it goes
Off. They are like a clumsy hunter who
goes along with skillful hunters; at the
very IIbiltnb ne Du8ub 10 DC most Quiet
he is cracking an alder or falling over "a
log and frightening away the game How
few Christian people have ever learned
the lesson Of which | read Mt the begin
ming of the service, how that the Lord
Jesus Christ at the well went from talk
ing about cup of water TO the most prac-
teal religious truths, which won the wo-
mans soul for God. Jesus, in the wilder
ness, was breaking bread to the people.
] think it was good bread; it was very
light bread, and the yeast had done its
work thoroughly. Christ, after he had
broken the bread, said TO the people: 'Be-
ware of the yeast, or of the leaven, Of the
Pharisees" So natural a transition it
was, and how easily they all understood
him. But how few Christian people who
understand how to fasten the truths Of
God and religion to the souls of
meni Truman Osborne, one of the
evangelsts who went through this
country some years ago had a wonder
full art in the right direction. He came to
my fathers house one day, and while we
were ell seated in the room, he said: '.Mr.
Talmage, are all your children Christians?'
Father said; eyes, all but De Witt"
Then Truman Osborne looked down into
the fireplace, and began to tell story of
n storm that came on the mountains, and
the sheep were in the fold but there was
one lamb outside that persisted in the
storm. Had he looked me in the eye.
should have been angcred when he told
me that story; but he looked into the fire
phase, and it was so pathetically and
beautifully done that | never found any
peace until was sure | was inside the
fold, where the other sheep are.
The archers of old times studied their
art They were very precise lin the mat
ter. The old books gave special directions
as to how the archer should go, and as to
what an archer should do. He must
stand erect and firm, his left foot a little
in advance of his right foot. With his
left hand he must take hold of the bow in
the middle, and then with the three fin
gers and the thumb of his right hand he
should lay hold of the arrow and aflix it
10 the String-So precise was the direction
given. But how clumsy we are about re-
ligious work. How little skill and care
we exercised How often our arrows miss
the mark Oh, that we might learn the
art of doing good and become mighty
hunters before the Lordp'
In the first place, if you want to be eff
fectual in doing good, you must be very
sure of your weapon. There was some
thing very fascinating about the archery
of olden times Perhaps you do not know
what they could do with the bow and ar
the English Plantagenets were with the
long bow. They would take the arrow of
polished wood and feather it with the
plume of bird, and then it would fly
from the bowstring of plated silk. The
broad fields of Agincourt and Solway
Moss and Neville's Cross heard the loud
thrum of the arCher's bowstring Now,
my Christian friends, we have a mighter
weapon than that. 1t is the arrow of the
- - 4
arrow; it is feathered from the wing of
the dove Of Gods spirit; it flies from a
bow made out of the wood of the cross.
As far as | can estimate or calculate, il
has brought down 400, 1000, 600 souls.
Paul knew how to bring the notch
of that arrow on to that bow
string. and its whir was heard through
the Corinthian theatres, and through the
court room, until the knees of Felix
knocked together. 1t was that arrow that
stuck in Isuther's heart when he cried
out: ooh, my sinsl oh, my sinsr II
it strike man in the head, il kills his
skepticism; if it strike him in the heel, il
will turn his step; if it strike him in the
heart, he throws up his hands, as did one
of old when wounded in the battle, cry
ing: "Oh, Galilean, thou hast con
quered.
In the armory of the Earl Of Pembroke
there are old corslets which show that the
arrow of the English used to go through
the breastplate, through the body of Tho
warrior and outHhrough the backplate
What symbolSf that Gospel which is
sharper than a two edged sword, piercing
to the dividing asunder of soul and body
and of the joints and marrow Would K
God we had more faith in that gospel
The humblest man in this house. If he ha6
enough faith in him, could bring 10(
souls 70 Josus-perhaps 500. Just in pro
portion rs this age seeus to believe less
and less in it, | believe more and more il
ii. What are men about that they will
not accept their own deliverance? There
is nothing proposed by men that can dc
anything like this gospel The religion
of Ralph Waldo Emerson is the
philosophy of icicles; the religion OF
Theodore Parker was sirocco OF
the desert, covering up the soul with
dry sand; the religion of Renan is the
romance of believing nothing; the religion
OF Thomas Carlyle is only q condensed
London fog; the religion of the Huxleys
and the Spencers is merely n pedestal or
which human philosophy sits shivering in
the night of the soul, looking up TO the
stars, offering no help to the nations that
crouch and groan at the base. Tell me
where there is one man who has rejected
that gospel for another, whoi is thoroughly
satisfied and helped and contented in his
skepticism, and l will take the car to-
morrow and ride 500 miles to see him
The fun power of the gospel has not We,
been touched. As asportsman throws uI
his hand and catches the ball fying
through the air, just so easily viii this
gospel after while catch this round
world flying from it's orbit and bring il
back to the heart of Christ. Give it full
swing, and it will pardon every sin, heal
every wound, cure every trouble, emanci